Loading and securing cargo on hauling vehicles, such as flatbed trailers of semi-trucks can be hazardous for human workers. Statistically, getting onto the cargo bed of a hauling vehicle via built-in or separate ladders or steps causes a certain percentage of slips and falls. As the cargo bed fills up, there is less room for workers, for the workers' tools, and for materials for securing the load, such as tarps, wraps, and banding supplies. Less room on the cargo bed increases the chances of falling off the edge of the working surface. Besides falling down or falling off the edge of the hauling vehicle, workers can also fall off the cargo itself, while it is being fastened to the cargo bed. When securing a load with straps and bands, the straps and bands often fasten to the side of the vehicle's bed, necessitating a work position off to the side of the hauling vehicle.
Loading docks and fixed worker platforms provide a safe surface for accessing a hauling vehicle's cargo bed, but are generally expensive to build and cannot be moved. Thus, long flatbed trailers must maneuver to the side of a fixed platform, which may not be the same height as the actual work surface of the trailer. Since fixed platforms and loading docks are permanently anchored in the ground with cement and/or bolted to a building, they cannot be transported to a position where the hauling vehicle may be conveniently parked. Rather, the vehicle must be brought to the conventional fixed platform.